Mass forced deportation of Armenians in 17th century
The Great Surgun (Armenian: Մեծ սուրգուն, the Great Exile) was the forced deportation of the population (mainly Armenians) from Eastern Armenia to the territory of the central and northern parts of Safavid Iran, which was carried out in 1604-1605 by the order of Shah Abbas the Great during the Ottoman–Safavid War (1603–1618).[2][4][6][7][8][9]
Among the deported population (about 350,000 people), the largest number were Armenians.[10] According to various estimates, the number of expelled Armenians ranged from 250,000[6][12] to 300,000 people.[4][13] During this time Armenian cities and villages were plundered and destroyed.[15][4] Many Armenians were brutally killed, subjected to violence or died on the way, less than half survived during the march.[13]
The deportation changed the ethnic demographic picture of the Armenian Highlands radically, greatly decreasing the percentage of Armenian population of the region.[6] Mass deportation of Armenians made them a minority in Nakhichevan (part of the present-day Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan), and also led to significant increase in the percentage of Muslims (Turks and Kurds) in other historical regions, including the Artsakh region (currently better known as Nagorno-Karabakh).[4][15][6]
- ^ Shakeri 1998, p. 38, "In pursuit of these objectives, in 1604 Shah Abbas ordered the move of Armenians and other populations from the valley of Ararat to Persia. According to Davrizhetsi «all the inhabitants of Armenia be they Christian, Jewish, or Muslim» were ordered to move out of their homes and to adapt themselves to new homeland in Persia proper".
- ^ a b c d Encyclopædia Iranica. ARMENIA AND IRAN VI.
- ^ a b c d Bournoutian 1997, p. 96, By the end of the eighteenth century, the Armenian population of the territory had shrunk considerably. Centuries of warfare and invasions combined with the tyranny of local khans had forced the emigration of the Armenians. It is probable the until the seventeenth century, the Armenians still maintained a majority in Eastern Armenia, but the forced relocation of some 250,000 Armenians by Shah Abbas and the numerous exoduses described in this chapter had reduced the Armenian population considerably..
- ^ Bournoutian 2003, p. 208, In the summer of 1604, at the news of an Ottoman counteroffensive, 'Abbas laid waste much of the territory between Kars and Ani and deported its Armenians and Muslims into Iranian Azerbaijan. … According to primary sources, some 250,000 to 300,000 Armemians were removed from the region between 1604 and 1605, Thousands died crossing the Arax River. Many of the Armenians were eventually settled in Iranian Azerbaijan, where other Armenians had settled carlier. Some ended up in the Mazandaran region and in the cities of Sultanich, Qazvin, Mashhad, Hamadan and Shiraz. The wealthy Armenians of Julfa were brought to the Safavid capital of Isfahan..
- ^ Bournoutian 2021, p. 237, Hearing that the Ottomans had sent a large force against him, the Shah forcibly removed the population of numerous Armenian villages in Nakhjavan and Yerevan across the Aras River into the interior.
- ^ Bournoutian 2016, p. 12, In 1604, during the Irano-Ottoman war, Shah `Abbas not only forcibly deported the Armenians of Julfa to Iran, but also ordered a large part of the population of Yerevan and Nakhichevan to be moved south of the Aras (Arax) River and settled in Azarbayjan. […] In addition, the above centuries of conflict, voluntary and forced emigration had reduced the Armenian population of Nakhichevan to a mere minority..
- ^ Рыбаков, Белявский и др. 1983, pp. 274, Following the brilliant anti-Ottoman campaign of 1603-5, Shah ʿAbbās resumed control over the provinces of Yerevan and Nakhchivan, which constituted the core settlement of Eastern Armenians. As a result, the major centre of Armenian religious and cultural life, the Holy See of Etchmiadzin, again fell within the borders of the Safavid Empire. Yet, feeling that his grasp over the newly conquered territories was still insecure, ʿAbbās applied a scorched earth policy and undertook massive forced resettlements of the local population, especially Armenians, into central Iran. In 1604, the large Armenian community of the city of Julfa on the River Araxes was forcibly resettled to Isfahan….
- ^ Bournoutian 1994, p. 44, Armenians were uprooted during these wars, and, in 1604, some 250,000 Armenians were forcibly transferred by Shah 'Abbas to Iran. By the seventeents century, the Armenian had become a minority in parts of their historic lands.
- ^ a b Price 2005, p. 71, Primary sources estimate that between 1604 and 1605 some 250,000 to 300,000 Armenians were removed from Armenia for settlement in Iran. Thousands died during the harsh forced move..
- ^ a b von Haxthausen 1854, p. 252, Since the eighteenth century this fine country has lain in a state of decay, a circumstance in part attributable perhaps to the present mixed state of the inhabitants who have succeeded the Armenians that were carried away prisoners. The Tatars and Koords, who have been brought hither and settled, now form half the population..